Refrigerator construction



Aug. 4, 1931.

L. s. CHADWICK ET AL 1,816,955

REFRIGERATOR CONSTRUCTION Filed March 7, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 bkku J M M MATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 4, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LEE S. CHADWICK, OF SHAKER HEIGHTS VILLAGE, AND MARC RESEK, OF CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OHIO, ASSIGNORS TO PERFECTION STOVE COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND,

OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO REFRIGERATOR- Application filed March 7,

This invention has to do with improvements in refrigerators and more especially to a unique top construction for refrigerator cabinets. Though not limited in its broad aspect to such class of refrigerators, the present invention had its conception in connection with refrigeration apparatus of the socalled mechanical or artificial class, and accordingly is peculiarly suited thereto.

Among the several objects of the invention are: to provide a well insulated wall section (in the present embodiment, a top wall) for refrigerator cabinets that may, in an espe cially facile manner, be applied to the body portion of the cabinet with a joint that is very effective in reducing thermoleakage in the vicinity thereof to the minimum; to provide a wall section for refrigerator cabinets that is constructed principally of insulating material, such as ground cork with a suitable binder, preferably compressed into slabs (and which is comparatively fragile) combined with metal plates that impart strength and rigidity to the structure; to provide a wall section of the aforesaid nature wherein said metal plates are disposed on opposite sides of the insulating material and preferably flanged about the edges thereof and suitably connected together without metal contact between the plates or metal con tinuity between the inner and outer sides of the wall section; to provide refrigeration apparatus of the mechanical or artifical class comprising a cabinet incorporating a wall section whereon is mounted prior to the installation of the wall section certain elements of the refrigeration system so that the latter are properly emplaced within the structure when the wall section is applied to the body portion of the cabinet, thereby expediting, cheapening and facilitating manufacture, assembly and repair; to provide a relatively simple and substantial top wall for the cabinets of refrigeration apparatus comprising aslab or body of suitable insulating material and an overlying metal plate, with means having low heat conducting properties supported by the plate and extending through said slab or body for sustaining the relatively heavy evaporator unit within the cabinet; to

oonsrrnnc'rrou 1929. Serial No. 344,954.

provide, in combination with a cabinet having a top frame of non-heat conducting material, a top comprising a slab or layer of insulating material, whose peripheral portion is adapted to bear upon said frame, and a metallic'plate applied to said slab or layer and overlying the peripheral portion thereof so as to impart strength to the same; and to provide, in combination with a cabinet having a top frame of non-heat conducting material, a top comprising two sections, slabs or layers of insulating material, one being of a size to occupy said frame and the other superposed thereon and having its peripheral portion extending beyond the corresponding portion of the former section or layer and resting upon said frame, a metal plate or the like overlying the top section or layer and extending to the peripheral portion thereof, preferably a second metal plate or the like engaged with the underneath side of the lower section or layer, and means made of StI'OIL'. nonheat conducting material extending through the insulating material and connecting said plates together.

The foregoing objects, with others hereinafter appearing, are attained in the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a sectional front ele- Vation, substantially on the line 11 of Fig. 2. of a refrigerator of the mechanical or artificial class embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 22 of Fig. 1 and looking upwardly as indicated by the arrows associated with said line, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail on substantially the same plane as Fig. 1.

The cabinet of the apparatus is designated, generally, by the numeral 1, and it is constructed on a framework consisting of a rectangular base frame 2, a top frame 3 of corresponding size and shape, and posts 4; that connect the corners of the two frames. A door frame 5, shown in Fig. 2, is suitably supported between the corner posts 4 that are located at the front of the cabinet, and cooperating therewith and enclosing the opening defined thereby is a door 6 that is properly insulated.

A sheet metal lining 10, open at front and top, encloses the refrigeration compartment 12, and the front edges of the side walls of said lining are flanged outwardly and are engaged with the inner side of the door frame 5 as shown in Fig. 2. The upper edges of the rear and side walls of the lining are also flanged outwardly, as indicated at 13 in Fig. 1, and such flanged edges are engaged with the underneath side of the top frame 3. A sheet metal jacket 15 extends from one of the front corner posts, about the other, and rearwardly therefrom along one side of the cabinet to where it is formed about the adj acent rear corner post and thence along the back of the cabinet and across the rear surface of the other rear corner post where it terminates. A sheet of metal, designated 15*, is supported by and between the first and last mentioned corner posts and, for the present purpose, may be considered as a part of the jacket 15. The space between the jacket and lining 10 is filled with suitable insulating material, as will now be explained. At present we prefer to apply to the outer surface of the lining 10 sheets or slabs 16 of compressed ground cork, and in the space between these sheets or slabs 16 and the jacket 15 is packed bulk insulating material, such as ground cork, asbestos, or the like, as indicated at 18.

The top of the cabinet, designated generally by the reference numeral 20, is made up of two layers or slabs 21 and 22 of suitable insulating material, compressed cork being at present preferred. The slab or layer 21 is made large enough to overlie to a material extent, and bear throughout its peripheral portion directly upon, the top frame 3, while the layer or slab 22 is somewhat smaller than the opening of said frame so that it may occupy the same. A metal plate 23 is applied to the top surface of the layer-21 and a peripheral flange 24 thereof extends downwardly about the edge of said layer but terminates short of the plane of its underneath surface. A metal plate 25 is applied to the underneath side of the layer 22, and it is formed at its edge with a shallow fiange26 that projects upwardly about the edge of said layer.

According to the present disclosure, the invention is incorporated in a refrigeration apparatus of the intermittent absorption type, and the cabinet 1 is supported upon a base 28 that extends laterally beyond one side of the cabinet and is spaced a suitable distance from the floor by legs 29. A casing incorporating a wall 30 rises from the extended side of the base 28 and encloses between said wall and the adjacent side of the cabinet a space 31 within which are located a generator-absorber 32, and a burner 33 by means of which the generator-absorber is heated at intervals.

Located Within the refrigeration compartment or chamber 12 is an evaporator 34, and mounted upon the cabinet is a condenser that is shown generally at 35. The generator-absorber 32, condenser 35 and evaporator 34 communicate through conduits or pipes 36, 37 and 38. These various elements of the refrigeration apparatus form a sealed system enclosing a quantity of a suitable refrigerant and an absorber therefor, such, for example, as ammonia'and water, respectively. It is deemed unnecessary for the purpose of this disclosure to describe the refrigeration apparatus in further detail, nor is it thought necessary to explain its operation. The apparatus is identical in principal and oper.- ation and substantially the same {in construction as that shown and described in an application for Letters Patent of the United States Serial No. 242,574, filed by Davld F. Keith, on the 27th day of December, 1927.

The top wall 20 has a central openlng 39 for the accommodation of a dome 40 of the evaporator 34 and the adjacent portions of the pipes 36, 37 and 38 that connect therewith, and the space about said dome and pipes is packed with a suitable sealing and heat insulating material, as indicated at 41. Registering openings of the same size are formed in the plate 23 and the slabs or layers 21 and 22 for the reception'of the cylindrical body portions ofspools 42 that are preferably made of a tough variety of wood. The spools have heads 43 which engage the plate 23 about the holes therein, as shown clearly in Fig. 3. The spools 42 have bores for the passage of bolts 45 that are extended through apertures in the plate 25 and through holes in the supporting bracket 46 of the evaporator 34, said bolts having nuts 47 applied to their lower ends. The heads of the bolts are engaged with shoulders formed by the lower ends of counterbores of the spools, said counterbores being filled with suitable sealing material, as indicated at 48. In the present construction, four spools are shown, properly spaced for cooperation with the brackets of the evaporator. The spools 42 and bolts 45 serve the further purpose of binding the slabs or layers 21 and 22, and the plates 23 and 25 together.

In the production of the apparatus, and before the top wall 20 is applied to the body portion of the cabinet, the evaporator 34 is secured in the manner above described to the top wall 20 and relatively short sections of the pipes 37 and 38 that extend from the dome of the evaporator are connected, as by welding, to the other sections of said pipes that are connected to the generator absorber 32. With these parts of the refrigeration apparatus thus assembled and secured to the top wall, the latter may be placed in position with the marginal portion of the slab or layer 21 resting upon the top frame 3 of the cabinet. The top may'then be secured in place by wood screws 50, preferably one adjacent each corner of the top, that pass through apertures in the plate :23 and the slab or layer 21 and are screwed into the frame 3. The condenser 35 may then be placed upon the top 20 and suitably secured thereto, after which the sections of the pipe 36 may be connected together through the coil or other circulating unit (not shown) of the condenser. After this work has been performed, a top shell 51 may be lowered over the condenser and applied to the top of the cabinet and to the top of the casing incorporating the Wall 30.

Thus it will be seen that our invention provides a well insulated Wall section for refrigerator cabinets that is of adequate strength to support the relatively heavy evaporator and other related parts of refrigeration apparatus of the mechanical or artificial class, and that said wall is joined to the body portion of the cabinet in such manner, though simple, as will reduce thermal leakage at the joint to the minimum. Furthermore, our invention simplifies and cheapens the manufacture and assembly of the cabinets of refrigeration apparatus of the class referred to, and facilitates repair in that if anything goes wrong with any of the parts of the refrigeration system the wall section by which said parts are carried may be easily and quickly removed, as by the withdrawal of the screws 50 and the lifting off of the wall section, and another wall section may as easily be applied on which substitute parts of the apparatus are mounted. By the mere attachment of the wall 20, the elements of the refrigeration apparatus are properly emplaced within the structure.

It is to be noted particularly that there is no metal contact between the interior and exterior of the cabinet, excepting the parts of the refrigeration system that extend through the top wall, and by reason of the inherent compressibility of the insulating material of which the layer or slab 21 is formed, a tight joint is insured between the marginal portion of said slab or layer and the frame 3 of the cabinet body which, it may lie explained, is preferably of wood, as are the other elements of the cabinet frame consisting of the parts designated 2 and 4. It may also be explained that the layers or slabs 21 and 22 of the top wall are thoroughly coated with a substance impervious to moisture so that there will be no exposed parts of said wall that are capable of absorbing moisture.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. In refrigeration apparatus of the class set forth, the combination of a cabinet incorporating an open frame of non-heat conducting material, a wall section for application thereto consisting of a body of insulatin material having a portion that occupies said frame and a marginal portion that overlies and engages the frame, metal plates applied to the inner and outer surfaces of said body of insulating material, said body and said plates having registering openings, spools of non-heat conducting material extending through the openings in the outer plate and said body of insulating material and having heads overlying the portions of the outer plate adjacent said openings, an evaporator disposed within the cabinet, and fastening means connecting it to said spools.

2. In refrigeration apparatus of the class set forth, the combination of an open top cabinet, a refrigerating unit including an evaporator that is located within the cabinet, a closure for the open top of the cabinet made of insulating material, and means to support the evaporator from the closure, said means comprising spools of non-heat conducting material, said spools having heads on the outside of the closure, shanks extending through the closure, and means for fastening the evaporator to the shanks of the spools.

3. In refrigeration apparatus of the class set forth, the combination of an open top cabinet, a refrigerating unit including an evaporator that is located within the cabinet, a closure for the open top of the cabinet consisting of a body of insulating material and a sheet metal pan applied to the top surface thereof, and means for supporting the evaporator from the closure and for binding the sheet metal pan to the body of insulating material comprising spools of non-heat conducting material, said spools having heads on the outside of said pan and shanks that extend therethrough and through the body of insulating material, and means fastening the evaporator to the shanks of said spools.

4. In refrigeration apparatus of the class set forth, the combination of an open top cabinet, a refrigerating unit including an evaporator that is located within the cabinet, a closure for the open top of the cabinet consisting of a body of insulating material and sheet metal pans on the top and bottom surfaces thereof, and means for supporting the evaporator from the closure and for binding the sheet metal pans to the body of insulating material comprising spools of non-heat conducting material, said spools having heads on the outside of the top pan, shanks extending through the top pan and through the body of insulating material, and means for fastening the evaporator and the bottom pan to the shanks of the spools.

5. In refrigeration apparatus of the class set forth, the combination of an open top cabnet incorporating a frame of non-heat con ducting material about its open top, a refrigerating unit including an evaporator which is located within the cabinet, a closure for the open top of the cabinet made of insulating material the marginal portion of which it adapted to overlie the frame, and means for supporting the evaporator from the 010+ sure comprising spools of non-heat conducting material, said spools having heads on the outside of "the closure, shanks extending through the closure,-jand means for fastening the evaporator to the shanks of the spools.

6. In refrigerationf apparatus of the class set forth, the combination of an open top cabinet incorporating a'frame of non-heat conducting material-about its'open top, a refrigerating unit'including anevaporator which is located within the cabinet, a closure for the open top of the cabinetmade of two superposed layers of insulating. material, the top layer adapted to overlie'said frame, the bottom layer adapted to fit within said frame, a sheet metal pan on top of the top layer and a second sheet metal paniunderneath the hottom layer, means to support the evaporator from the closure and to bind the sheet metal pans to the layers of insulating material including spools of non-heat conducting material, said spools having heads on the outside of the top pan, shanks extending through the top pan and through the layers of insulating material, and means for'fastening the evaporator and the bottom pan to the shanks of the spools. 1 n 7. In refrigeration apparatus of the class i set forth, the combination of a cabinet having an open top food chamber and a heating chamber to one side thereof, a closure adapted to seal the top of the food chamber, an evaporator attached to the underside of the closure, a condenser attached to the top of the closure, and a generator supported from the condenser to one side of the evaporator, said ele ments being so arranged that when the clo- 40 sure is placed in position on the cabinet the generator will be in the heating chamber, the evaporator will be in the food chamber,and the condenser will be outside both chambers. In testimony whereof, we hereunto aifix our signatures.

LEE S. GHADWIGK. MARC RESEK. 

